Big J’s Curator will lead a more “adult-oriented” tour Thursday, July 25 at 6pm

CAMDEN WATERFRONT, NJ – July 22, 2013 – For adults looking for a cool, early

evening activity, the Battleship New Jersey is launching the perfect tour! The new Twilight Tour, featuring a more adult-oriented tour of our nation’s largest battleship, will take place on Thursday, July 25 during the cooler evening hours.

“When 55,000 men living aboard this ship during nearly every significant combat period in the 20th century, you are going to get some interesting art work and stories that you just can’t share with everyone touring the Battleship,” explained Jason Hall, Curator of the Battleship. “So we are offering adults the chance to experience the ship in a bit more explicit way than our daytimetours. And what better time than the cooler evening hours in the summer.”

Mr. Hallwill lead a tour for adults only and show areas of the ship, some notcurrently on the public tour route. The tour will feature some of the more adult-oriented sailor art, which has been created by the former crew members of the Battleship throughout the years.In addition, he will also share stories of some of the sailor’s escapades that are of a mature nature.

“This is a unique opportunity to have a more adult oriented tour of the Battleship. But I have to stress, there’s nothing overtly graphicinvolved in this tour, just some artwork that you don’t want to necessarily share with the kids,” Mr. Hall added. The tour, which will be about 90-minutes, will conclude with guests enjoying a cold adult beverage or soft drink on the Main Deck portside as the sun sets over the Philadelphia skyline.

The initial Twilight Tour will launch Thursday, July 25 at 6pm. Tickets are $34.95 perAdult, and includes a drink at the end of the tour. Additional beverages can be purchased. For tickets, visit the Battleship’s website at www.battleshipnewjersey.org or call 1-866-877-6262 ext. 108.

The Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial offers tours daily from 9:30am to 5pm through Labor Day. Families can spend a unique overnight adventure aboard the Battleship. The award-winning Overnight Encampment Program offers families, scouts, andyouth organizations the chance to experience a night on board the ship! Guests enjoy dinner and breakfast served from the Crew’s Galley, a ride on the 4D Flight Simulator Ride, a tour of the ship and the chance to sleep in the bunks that the crew of the USS New Jersey once did!For more information or to book your group’s stay, call 1-866-877-6262 ext. 203. For moreinformation, call 1-866-877-6262 or 856-

By Kevin Riordan, Inquirer Columnist

"Pretty baby pink!" exclaimed biologist Kate Budion as the Adventure Aquarium made the gender of its youngest penguin public with a splash Wednesday.

Only the 15th chick the aquarium's penguin colony has produced since it was established in 1998, Casanova was born Jan. 11, 2013.

"She was named 'Casanova' because we introduced her to the public on Valentine's Day, and we were looking for a name that could be abbreviated in either a male or a female way," said Sara Honovich, the aquarium's director of marketing and sales.

The hand-raised and, as a result, personable little bird has quickly become a starlet at the Aquarium on the Camden waterfront as well as on social media.

More than 500 friends of the aquarium's Facebook page clicked "like" for the freshly nicknamed Cassie within three hours of the announcement Wednesday.

And outside the habitat where Cassie lives with 17 fellow African black-footed penguins, about 100 people waited expectantly despite the searing heat. (Had the suspense continued much longer, I might have jumped into the habitat's beckoning waters myself.)

Several people wore pink or blue, as per the aquarium's suggestion they "dress their guess" of Casanova's gender.

"I have two girls, so I picked pink," said Brian Miller, 50, an art educator from Dover, Del., whose wife, Julie, a judicial secretary, sported blue.

Their daughter Sarah, who turned 19 Wednesday, went for pink. African black-footed penguins of either sex "are cute," she noted, accurately.

Petite, warmer-weather cousins of those tuxedo-clad stars of March of the Penguins and Happy Feet, African penguins have identical external genitalia. It seems that even experts can't distinguish between the sexes.

The birds seem to figure things out eventually, although males and females do not mature sexually, much less mate, until about two to three years of age. Their human caregivers take note of "who's laying eggs," Budion said.

Nevertheless, the pretty little birds have become an endangered species.

Since 2000, the wild population of African black-footed penguins has dropped from 200,000 to about 55,000.

Thus, Wednesday's party had a serious side: The more information biologists have as they care for and observe the birds, the better.

The aquarium generally draws blood for DNA testing by an outside laboratory when chicks are about five or six months old. Casanova's results were known only by a select group of aquarium employees until Wednesday.

"I didn't want to know!" Honovich said, laughing.

Casanova is slightly smaller than the typical six-month-old, standing about a foot tall and weighing less than six pounds.

"At first, we fed her a little bit of everything - capelin, herring, and squid," Budion said. "But she's started to develop her own personality, and she really likes her herring."

Although the frozen pink "fishicles" the colony received as treats for announcement day were made of capelin, Casanova and friends lapped them up.

"I think everyone had a good time," Budion said. "We're always excited to present penguins to the public."